The present invention involves apparatus and method for improving coffee grounds usage. The apparatus of the invention relate particularly to a coffee grounds receptacle and a removable insert, both of which confine coffee grounds within a substantially annular area to maintain the depth of the coffee grounds at a desirable level while using fewer coffee grounds to make a suitable number of cups of coffee. The apparatus can be used in various types of coffee makers.
Coffee is typically made in percolator or drip-type coffee makers. A coffee percolator is generally an apparatus in which boiling liquid, initially introduced as tap water, repeatedly rises through a tube and rebounds from a dome to be deflected downwardly through ground coffee beans located within a perforated receptacle or basket to extract their essence as liquid coffee. Percolators with electrically operated heating elements typically have a thermostatic control which terminates heating of the percolated coffee liquid after the liquid has reached a certain temperature. A drip-type coffee maker typically passes hot water through an amount of coffee grounds at a rate designed to produce coffee of desired strength without passing the water through the coffee grounds more than once.
In the prior art apparatus, supplemental small percolator baskets are provided to be inserted over the hot water tube of a primary coffee percolator basket when making a quantity of coffee which is less than the quantity produced when the primary basket is filled to capacity. According to the prior art, when such a supplemental basket is used, thereby reducing the total amount of coffee grounds which can be placed in the basket, a correspondingly reduced quantity of coffee liquid will be produced. In other words, when fewer coffee grounds are used, fewer cups of coffee are made.
Furthermore, a supplemental basket or strainer cup, such as disclosed in Cameron U.S. Pat. No. 1,778,792, typically confines the coffee grounds close to the centrally located hot water tube, i.e., within the zone in which the greatest quantity of liquid drippings descend from a percolator dome over the hot water tube. However, this supplemental cup must be designed to correspond to the liquid rebound characteristics of the dome of the particular coffee percolator in which it will be used. In other words, the diameter of the supplemental coffee grounds receptacle must be large enough to receive a substantial amount or a majority of the coffee liquid drippings from the percolator dome. Such a supplemental cup is of less utility in a coffee percolator whose dome distributes coffee liquid over a substantial cross-sectional area of the primary coffee grounds basket.
According to the present invention, an apparatus and method are provided which overcome the disadvantages of the prior art in accommodating an amount of coffee grounds less than the capacity of the primary coffee maker basket. The apparatus and method of the present invention advantageously reduce the amount of coffee grounds used to produce a desired quantity of coffee liquid. Furthermore, instead of confining the coffee grounds to an area near the center of a coffee receptacle or basket, the coffee grounds are confined to a substantially annular area near the outer wall of the receptacle. In one embodiment of the apparatus of the invention, there is provided a removable insert means for confining coffee grounds within a substantially annular area in a coffee grounds receptacle and for directing the liquid toward the annular area. In another embodiment of the invention, a coffee grounds receptacle is provided which includes an inner spacer means for confining the coffee grounds to an annular area and for directing liquid toward the annular area.
Particularly when used in a coffee percolator, having a coffee grounds receptacle and a tube positioned within the receptacle for conveying rising hot liquid to an area above the coffee grounds, the means for confining coffee grounds within the substantially annular area has a frustoconical upper surface provided with an aperture to accommodate the hot liquid tube so that liquid flowing from the tube is directed into the annular area. A plug is provided for the aperture so that the means for confining coffee grounds is adapted to be used in a drip-type coffee maker. According to the method of the invention, coffee grounds are confined within a substantially annular area of approximately the same depth as when the coffee grounds receptacle of the prior art is filled to a pre-selected level for making a quantity of coffee of a certain strength and flavor.
Accordingly, the apparatus of the present invention provide an inexpensive and effective means for improving coffee grounds usage by reducing the amount of coffee grounds used by confining coffee grounds within a volume which maintains the height of the coffee grounds at a pre-selected level even though a reduced amount of coffee grounds is used. In this manner, a quantity of coffee liquid can be brewed using fewer coffee grounds than in the prior art, while at the same time maintaining the desired strength and flavor of the coffee produced with this smaller amount of coffee grounds.
A further advantage of the present invention is that the apparatus directs liquid used in extracting the coffee essence from the beans into the reduced cross-sectional area in which the coffee grounds are confined. Because the liquid does not bypass the coffee grounds area, the desired amount of essence of coffee grounds can be removed during the time period allotted for percolation, either by external manual or internal thermostatic or automatic timing of the percolation process.
A still further advantage of the present invention is that the insert means can be used either with a percolator or a drip-type coffee maker, depending upon the choice of the user.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are intended to show the features of the present invention, but are not necessarily drawn to scale.